Paper tissues for handkerchiefs etc. are normally folded and stacked a few, typically nine or ten, in a plastic foil wrapper. These can be carried in a pocket or a handbag, or be placed upon a desk or shelf.
These wrappers nowadays are most often equipped with a reclosable flap, enabling the user to open the wrapper, take out a handkerchief and reclose the wrapper to keep the remaining handkerchiefs protected from dirt and moisture.
The opening can be made in many different ways.
EP 0,392,224 shows a wrapper with an opening just in the edge between the front wall and the side or end wall, with an extraction opening as a cut-out under the reclosable flap. The user will have to grip the handkerchief via the cut-out in this narrow opening.
EP 0,401,621 shows a wrapper with an opening formed by a lid, separated from a side wall and a minor part of the front wall by cuts and perforations and a cut-out in a side wall. A handkerchief can be taken out fairly easy, but the user must when gripping it, separate it from the next one. To close the wrapper, the lid is put down and fastened with a reclosable flap that reaches around the side wall to be adhered to the rear wall.
EP 0,132,250 shows a wrapper where there is no need for a reclosable flap, as an opening is created in a side wall by two overlapping plastic foil pieces, the uppermost one of which has a convex shape to better cover the opening. The overlapping pieces are connected at their ends. The convex part can be lifted off the other foil piece to form an opening where the user can withdraw a handkerchief. This will form a rather narrow opening where the user will have to separate the wanted handkerchief from the next one.
EP 0,961,736 shows a wrapper where two overlapping plastic foil pieces from an opening in a side wall, where the ends are welded together to give stability to the wrapper, but the openable parts of the side wall are separated from the ends by cuts.
The opening is enabling the user to withdraw a wanted handkerchief, but still he will have to separate it from the next one.
German utility patent G 91.06.555 shows a wrapper with an opening at the end wall where the user can withdraw a handkerchief. The handkerchiefs are folded in a special way to ease the unfolding of it after it has been withdrawn from the wrapper; first Z folding and then doubling and redoubling the other direction.
Still there is a need for a wrapper where the withdrawal of a handkerchief or other paper tissue is facilitated for the user, enabling him to withdraw a handkerchief in an easy and hygienic way, without having to touch the neighboring handkerchiefs.
There is also a need for a wrapper that enables the user to withdraw and unfold a handkerchief in a single operation, preferably using only one hand.